Expert Perspectives

As part of our work for the Common Sense District Privacy Evaluation Initiative, we spend a lot of time reading through the text of privacy policies and terms of service of educational software. However, we are also looking at the mechanics of how these policies are articulated and delivered. Over time, as we evaluate more policies, we will be looking for possible patterns or correlations between technical and stylistic details, and the contents of policies.

OER – open education resources are a boon to K-12. But OER is a start, not an end. As K-12 moves to fully 1-to-1 and blended learning, K-12 needs to go beyond digitized versions of paper-based lessons (and proprietary formats) and develop an open standard for the "deeply digital lesson."

We've assumed that focusing on STEM skills, like robotics or coding, are important, but the reality is that STEM skills are enhanced and more relevant when combined with traditional, hands-on creative activities.

David Thornburg, our guest blogger, looks back and looks forward – and sees Chromebook’s DNA in the history of computing and forecasts all sorts of provocative software that this "new" platform will engender.

There are some that use technology to support construction-oriented pedagogies — maker movement, project-based learning — and some that use technology to support instruction-oriented pedagogies — personalized learning. Instruction may well be less costly to deliver — but the loss of the opportunity to develop our children’s creativity is inestimable.

While the e-learning shift in education holds the promise to accelerate student success, school system leaders are faced with increased responsibility. Chief among those challenges: managing student data and security — and doing so with limited time and resources.

The evidence drought is over! A recent methodologically rigorous meta-analysis shows that in 1-to-1 classrooms, there is an increase in student achievement. Yay! Here’s the justification for all those 1-to-1 Chromebook roll-outs!

Expanding the conversation around "Reinventing Curriculum": In this week’s blog post, Superintendent Dan Lawson explains how his district is creating OER curricula. Dan's post is a thought-provoking response to our earlier blog post about the challenges teachers face in creating OER materials.

On the one hand, the role of the teacher in a 1-to-1 classroom is relatively unchanged from what a teacher has always done. Now for “the but”: but on the other hand, 1-to-1 introduces a huge change in what teachers have always done! This week’s blog post discusses this critically important and timely dilemma.

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School districts are increasingly challenged to meet the demands of educating students with fewer resources and aging systems. Nucleus Research found that K-12 school systems moving to Infor CloudSuite Public Sector can take advantage of the economies of cloud and increased efficiency and budget predictability.
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